I’m looking at setting up a proper media centre in the living room, but I’m a little baffled by speaker choice – my dumb question is this: If I have my music playing through the computer itunes and it’s plugged into one of those home cinema speaker packages will it still sound okay? Are cinema speakers and hifi speakers very different?

Thanks.

traditionally, hi-fi speakers would be a pair in 4ohms or 8ohms impedance; that was about all that one set had in common with another.

cinema systems come in 2.1, 5.1 and now 7.1 – the .1 denotes the subwoofer; the remaining 2, 5 or 7 speakers will probably also be 4ohms or 8ohms, and again, that’s about all they’ll have in common.

basically, try before you buy. If you can take a laptop loaded with iTunes & your favourite songs to the shop, that will help you get a balanced opinion. And yours is the only opinion that counts. Good luck 🙂

of course, I’m no specialist, not even a serious hobbyist, so no doubt someone will be along soon to shoot me down in flames, but hey, what the heck

Just done all this today and we bought a Yamaha AV amp, but using my floorstanding speakers for the front channels and also bought a Tannoy speaker set. This will give better depth than the small satellite style speakers. Also bought a turntable today, so been rummaging through all my vinyl. Forgot how good they sound.
Cant wait to set the new system up, but builders are only just starting to build the room in the morning, just ‘had’ to get the sounds sorted first, much to the wifes raised eyebrow LOL.

It’ll sound fine so long as your amp is set to output direct (if it gets a film in a surround sound format it outputs that but it doesn’t try to make a stereo signal into a 7.1 output. That said, try it out, you might like the effects.

HTPC, projector, Entry level Onkyo receiver and Jamo sub/sat package here – so no audiophile stuff (speaker cables can be used in either direction) but very happy with results

As per petrieboy have a set of the 5.1 Jamos on stands running through a Sony processor / amp. Been very impressed with their range. Recently added a NAD amp with two Artcoustic panel speakers and crikey , really opened up a whole new level of richness (to my ignorant ears at least).

Only downside is u quickly realise how poor the sound quality can be from compressed media sources, so in answer I doubt the speaker choice will have much influence if this is your main signal source ?

Thrustyjust,

You probably have all this in hand but if they are beginning working and you have a blank canvas try and get all of your cabling in (and spares!) before the plasterboard goes on. I have all my HDMI cabling from satellite and audio cables in the walls / behind the skirting so that nothing (well very little) shows. Also thought about socket location given the AV gear, even to the extent of having a socket 2.5m up a wall for a projector, covered with a picture until I get that sorted.

Sorry for the thread hi-jack…

Matt.

Best way of making stuff sound better through itunes is to use a non compressed format. Use lossless when ripping your CDs, the better quality signal that goes into the system the better will come out the other end. If this is going to be your main source you should upgrade your sound card. Best to buy a speaker package, as if you mix types or brands they will have different tonal qualities. Budget for decent cabling as well.

Matt, the main reason why I bought it all yesterday, so we can cable the lot in the walls, just as always trying to convince the wife why I need it all. Need to now work out all the cables and bits needed, but first I need walls. Long story but the room is an odd shape and we keep changing its design. Roll on today when the diggers arrive as no going back after this and I know what to do !!

Whilst your running cables consider future proofing by Puting in more than you think you’ll need. An extra couple of HDMIs is never a bad idea and a handful of cat6 covers you for a later smart tv, IR sender, or even d video over a pair of cat6 with balns.